https://www.instagram.com/robynhelmbold/
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Robyn, a 4th year veterinary student, grew up in a coastal village in South Africa where she attended a small Eco School. For a large part of this they were in the local wetland area and were always involved with clearing rubbish and alien invasive plants. This stewardship and care for the environment was just General Knowledge. Without these early years of being in Nature and caring for it, it seems unlikely that people will act to conserve or protect the environment. Her 1st year of veterinary school was in Pretoria, a big city. She was overwhelmed and scared a lot of the time, running on autopilot. Without access to Nature she felt scared and unsafe, whereas her peers seemed unaffected by this sensory overload and were at home in this very urban environment. Fortunately, “lockdowns” meant that she was able to escape this “5km prison”. Her 2nd year on the Veterinary campus with open areas and animals was a completely different experience. She could feel the “Grass Underneath Her Feet” and able to touch animals and be quiet, together with them. Her Core Value is BALANCE. Every aspect of her life from what she eats, to when she wakes and how much time she studies or is outdoors is guided by this. She now has a study group that have moved outdoors, they are more productive and others seem to be following their lead.
Riding since she was 3, she has a special bond with horses. Riding is an opportunity for her brain to go quiet and a feeling of being free. JoAnn Deak in her book “Girls will be Girls”, speaks about the positive impact horses can have on developing girls confidence. There is still prejudice against women in vet sphere but mostly in wildlife and large animal arenas. Imbalances are being corrected with about 60% of the students on her program being female. Not many Natural alternatives to standard pharmacological options are taught. But there are alternative, wholistic approaches, like Homeopathy out there.
To generate interest in Nature decline and Conservation, we need to make it fashionable, a trend. Then people will realise how beneficial being in Nature is. At the beginning of the year she started a “1000 Hours Outdoors Challenge”, so spends 3-4 hours everyday outside. To make this feasible she is moving more of her usual daily activities outdoors, rather than carving out large chunks of time. On waking she spends at least 10min getting direct sunlight, which has been shown to improve circadian rhythms and energy levels. You can find more info and evidence at Hubermanlab.com.
In her opinion, The One Thing that people think of as “Normal” but not “Natural” is: compromising sleep for deadlines. Working late into the
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